Suggestions for me and my 4 year old.

[Crazydiamond]

Hello all.

Middle aged dad new to six flags. On the tall, big side. I love water and water parks, but need to train myself on rides (I deal motion sickness). I have a 4 year old girl, 43 inches tall. She loves water some (can't swim yet - needs me with her - holding her) and loves any ride (no motion sickness with this one she craves it). So i want to help my daughter grow in her love for water, and I want to get myself used to rides as she grows.

Can you make any suggestions for me and my little one to enjoy the park this summer? Maybe which rides or slides are best to focus on this summer together? Also what else is good in the park to do?

I am hoping over the years for both of us to grow and do more at the park, but this summer one can be simple and easy for both of us. Lots of years to work into things.

[Ilovthevu']

Well for the waterpark, they do have a "kiddie" area called Skull Island that has some 4 "bigger" slides, and 2 really small slides (that I think are even the same). There are these "family" 2 raft slides called Bahama Mama and Bubba Tuba in which they are 42" with adult. However, I would say for your sake (since you aren't into rides that much - trying to start slow), I wouldn't go on the Bahama Mama which is the orange and purple one (If that's the wrong name, I'm sorry, but the colors are right though. I get confused with their stupid names at Hurricane Harbor). This slide is intense, and to tell you the truth, I don't know why that one is even 42" at all compared to the other one. And on top of it, they have that one at thrill level - Moderate (with the other one). The orange / purple one should be at Max at my opinion. The other one in my opinion should be Moderate as it says - (Green and Teal one)

They have a Lazy River which is called Castaway Creek. Hurricane Mountain is a slide complex 4 water slides in the back left side of the waterpark that are tube slides. Those are 42". Those aren't that rough, or anything. What I can't understand though is that they have 2 tube slides that are straight back (in back of the wavepool) of the park (that are yellow & teal), but yet they have that listed as 48", and this Hurricane Mountain is 42". That doesn't make much sense to me why the big difference between the two. Maybe, it's the waterfall, but they both have waterfalls.

If it wasn't for the height requirement, I would say it would be okay to ride Wipeout, but they list it as 48". That doesn't make much sense because that ride is a much smaller / weaker Tornado ride. I don't even know how they could consider that Max Thrill. Yeah, right.. Which begs the question why did the park even buy that ride if younger kids can't ride it...

Wahoo Racer is by Hurricane Mountain, and I don't have anything good to say about that ride. I scrapped my knee on that stupid ride. Instead of a push off for that ride, they make you jump onto the mat, and that's how that happened. This ride is closed a lot too. I wonder why...

They have a wavepool, and they have just a regular pool. The wavepool is good, and that would be okay as long as your daughter doesn't go far up.
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The regular park does have 2 kiddie sections. Rides consist of

-A car ride that goes around a small track
-There 2 of these rides: They are like the Dumbo rides you see at Walt Disney World in which the ride goes around a circle, and you can lift it up & down. One is near the American Eagle (plane ride I think), and one is near Batman the Ride / Vertical Velocity. This ride near Batman the Ride though is the only "kiddie" ride not in one of the two kiddie sections. The reason is because another ride was there, but that ride needs parts, and thus they put this ride there. This ride was previously at the park, and they took it away for the stupid Go-Karts ride. So, this might be the last year to go on that ride again. They are bees.

-They have a ride that goes up a small tower, and the all the cars go around in a circle really slow. This is basically Sky Trek Tower, but that ride is much taller.
- A small version of the Teacups (The bigger version is called Chubasco) - To me, it's kind of dumb that the park made this ride, and the ride above considering that the younger kids can just ride Sky Trek Tower & Chubasco.
-Very small Ferris Wheel
-A ride that goes up a small tower, and it drops, and it than goes up, than it drops. etc
-I think the park still has this. It's a circular ride in which there are cars, but it's themed to Flintstones. They just go around in a circle, slow. If you go to a carnival, you usually see them there.
-This ride is hard to explain so I'll just lead you to a video. This is the really small version of the ride I'm going to show you though, and the kids ride is themed to Scooby-Doo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc1z879sV0w
--A really small coaster in the "kiddie" section by the name of Spacely's Sprocket Rockets. It's nothing too intense.

For regular rides, you can't go wrong with:

--Condor
--Ricochet
--Chubasco
--Triple Play
--Big Easy Balloons
--Rue Le Dodge - Bumper Cars
--Sky Trek Tower - Observation Tower with cabin that spins slow

--Whirligig - which are swings
--Hometown Fun Machine- Scrambler
--Train - Scenic Railway (Two stations - one is near Triple Play / Hometown Fun Machine / Whizzer, and the other one is near Fiddler's Fling (Read Below) / American Eagle.
--River Rocker - might be the most intense out of this bunch. It's a simple swinging ship ride, but some people can't take that type of ride. It's not incredible fast or anything.
--Little Dipper - This is a coaster that came from Kiddieland, and it's not that intense.
--Whizzer - This coaster is a fun ride.

Dark Knight coaster - to show you what you are geting into, it looks a lot like this - in the youtube video below. It's not the same exact ride even though it's very close except for one more hill on the Dark Knight (There are also statues / tv screens / blacklight in one section / small buildings in the Dark Knight coaster), but the Dark Knight coaster is enclosed, so you can't see what the ride really looks like until you go on it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVgWKKMm4Y8 - This ride is rougher, but it's not really intense. If you have a bad back, I wouldn't ride it.

---Fiddler's Fling - I think this is the most intense ride in the park, so I would watch it on this ride. Maybe, just skip it.

The thing with these rides though is that none of them should be that bad for you to ride. She's only 43", and because of that, she can only go on so many rides. Once she starts growing more, the rides are going to get more intense except for Fiddler's Fling which to me again is the most intense ride in the park.

[Crazydiamond]

Wow!

That was very helpful. I have a bunch of notes into my smartphone from your great reply. Went on youtube from some of your recommendations.

Lazy river and wave pool for sure. Spacely rocket is a good one. Skytrek looks good. Any of the dubmo rides are a safe bet. Any kid coaster for sure

It will be a mild first summer. It may sound a bit strange, but I am like a fish...no water ride is too intense for me. I find water soothing - even when in a dark tube going 50 mph. However, strap me in a machine that spins me or takes me upside down and around - and I get light headed. However, I plan to build up my tolerance since my daughter loves motion - as she grows she will likely be a roller coaster junkie. Stuff like spacely sprokets or other kiddie coaster will be great for both of us for the next two years. I want to share her love of rides with her as she grows.

As for water rides - she has not fully learned to swim (she will by next summer) - So she needs a vest, and we need to be in a raft together or I need to hold her (pool or lazy river). She loves water though, so thats going to be fun for both of us over the next few years.

Thanks so much for all the information.

[Ilovthevu']

Your welcome.

Oops, I forgot about the first thing you see when you come in the park - the Columbia Carousel (which is a Double Decker Carousel - horses on the bottom & horses on the top - I think the bottom is better because there are different types of animals on the bottom compared to just horses on the top). This goes pretty slow. You shouldn't have any problems with this.

As for you feeling light-headed thing, my opinion for not getting that is that you should drink a lot of liquid. When anyone is at an amusement park, they are walking constantly. Their body is draining liquid from them throughout the day. Not only that, but you have to eat a good portion of food also. It's hard to imagine, that you can walk miles in an amusement park and not even know it. On top of it, it's usually during the summer when it's really warm outside. Also, I kind of think that their is a misconception with eating in an amusement park. This is, that you shouldn't eat because you are going to go on a ride, but I kind of disagree a bit. Yes, you should wait a little bit before you go on a ride (especially if someone doesn't have a strong stomach), but people's bodies need food because that gives people energy.

It's like if I were to exercise at 2 pm, and not have any food, or drink during the entire day. I might feel weak, and throw up because of that. Exercising takes a lot out of a person (that's why when I exercise or people in general, they usually have some liquid (usually water) by them), and so does walking a lot in an amusement park. A lot of times you are not only walking in an amusement park, but you are also climbing up 3 stories of stairs on some rides.

Some people gray out on Batman the Ride for instance which means they can't see for 2 seconds, in which I have had that same thing happen to me before, and to me; up above is why this does happen. Not enough food & liquid in me did that to me. That is why people need to drink a lot of liquid, and make sure you are eating enough food. You don't have go to a buffet and get stuffed, but make sure you aren't being skimpy on the food that much. Eat normally. And if it's the reason that the prices in the park being ridiculous (I'm talking to anyone in general. --which I think they are), than eat outside the park. They will let you get a handstamp, and you can go in and out of the park for no extra charge. Parking is $20 just to warn you.

I'm sorry for that tangent. You don't have to take my advice, but I think if you did you would see that you would feel much better.

[Sporlo]

I'll second that food/drink speech. And if there are no clouds at all, and it's hot, I would strongly recommend a hat; it's amazing what a difference the sun makes to your energy levels. It just zaps everything from you.